Leading burger brand Carl’s Jr offers unparalleled levels of support to forward-thinking franchisees looking to partner with a long-established success story
Carl’s Jr.® has been a destination for Handmade American Classic menu items for over 75 years. As a quintessential California burger restaurant, Carl’s Jr. has a story that dates back to the 40s and 50s at the dawn of the modern Southern California car, sun and surf culture …
Carl N. Karcher, along with his wife, Margaret, didn’t realize what would happen when he started his business, with a single hot dog cart, on July 17, 1941, using $311 borrowed against his 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe automobile (plus $15 that Margaret pitched in!).
The first day’s sales totaled $14.75. With his passion for customer service, business grew to four carts, and then on January 16, 1945, Carl opened his “Carl’s Drive–In Barbecue” in Anaheim, Calif. It was a hit, and wanting to keep growing but sensing he needed to create a scalable version of his restaurants, Carl developed a smaller version of his restaurant – a “junior” version, hence the name. On this platform, throughout the 1950s and into the 60s and beyond, this new “fast food” concept, Carl’s Jr.® restaurants became an icon in the restaurant world.
Today, the business that began with that first hot dog cart has grown into CKE Restaurants, Inc. CKE, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and its sister brand, Hardee’s, is an international powerhouse in the Burger segment with almost 4,000 restaurants around the globe.
Our brands are accelerating growth by emphasizing our core values and attributes: QUALITY FOOD and GREAT SERVICE with the VALUE and the CONVENIENCE of a QSR. The Carl’s Jr. Brand DNA is expressed as having a “Larger than Life Personality” and “Burgers Built to Spill!” while the feeling Carl’s Jr. creates is a “Crave Culture” centered on our big, juicy 100 percent Angus Thickburgers®, our Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™, our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts™, and all our specialties. All our marketing, public relations, social media and promotions are aligned to communicate this compelling message.
Unparalleled franchisee support
Our company and its leaders are dedicated to helping you build growing restaurant operations that are sustainable for the long term. We employ state-of-the-art marketing, advertising and public relations to help you stay culturally relevant in your market.
We provide you with best-in-class product development, a contemporary facility design with dedicated FF&E vendors and a tested operating platform backed by a strong and experienced international team. Carl’s Jr. provides a network of support, supervision, guidance and auditing for its international franchisees around the world with a dedicated team of over 60 professionals in support centers from the US to Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Asia.
The company also features a cutting-edge product development test kitchen in its central support center in the US and a supply chain and quality assurance team based in regional international centers, visiting each market regularly and working with our world-wide network of suppliers and vendors.
This commitment is top to bottom in our company. Under the leadership of CKE’s new CEO, Jason Marker, and our President, International, Ned Lyerly, Carl’s Jr. has been growing at an impressive pace across several continents. CKE’s entire Leadership Team is committed to supporting and guiding Carl’s Jr.’s expansion across the globe. Drilling down to each major international region, our system is led by experienced general managers supported by country directors and dedicated teams in place and growing as our system expands.
Focus on growth markets:
Carl’s Jr. is targeting key international markets in Europe for expansion: highlighting the UK and Germany. Our newly-opened European markets of Denmark, Spain, France and Belarus, added to our presence in Turkey and Russia, have been well received and are establishing our brand in this important region.
In the Americas, Carl’s Jr. has a long history of success and is expanding rapidly in Mexico and Central and South America as well in Canada and the Caribbean.
In Asia and Oceania, Carl’s Jr. has built on its presence in SE Asia, New Zealand and China, opening to huge crowds in the past two years in Japan and Australia. Carl’s Jr. now has five regional franchisees in Australia – each developing rapidly – with several more area developer regions open for development in NSW, WA, the ACT and parts of Queensland.
The brand is growing at a pace that the company wishes to accelerate, aiming for 2,000 international restaurants in the next five years. If you are interested in opening a dialogue with Carl’s Jr. about the possibilities to become an “area developer” owner-operator franchisee in one of our targeted markets, please contact our professional franchise sales and development team:
For more information in general, please visit http://carlsjrfranchising.com/international/. If you would like to be considered for a franchise, please contact Marc Mushkin, CKE’s Vice President of International Franchise Sales & Development. Mr. Mushkin, a 30 year industry veteran with experience developing restaurants in 25 countries over four continents, is based in the US and can be reached at Mobile USA: +1 (305) 588-2724 | E: mmushkin@ckr.com | Skype: marc.mushkin
For European and UK inquiries specifically, please reach out to our Europe specialist, Benjamin Simon, VP for Franchise Sales / Europe. Mr. Simon is experienced in major brand franchising for many years and he is based in France to serve our European candidates. Mr. Simon may be reached at Mobile USA: +1 (404) 245-8424 | Mobile EU: +33 (7) 71 28 07 47 | E: BSimon@ckr.com | Skype: BSimon@ckr.com
Profile of the ideal Carl’s Jr. franchisee:
Carl’s Jr. is seeking existing multi-unit restaurant operators or hospitality industry groups with experience developing non-competing international or regional brands. The ideal candidate has an infrastructure in place already to find excellent sites, develop the real estate, operate to system standards and manage the supply chain and other key functions locally with Carl’s Jr.’s international support.
Financial requirements are comparable to other major international QSR brands, with a minimum commitment of 5 restaurants over a mutually agreed upon timetable: showing a minimum demonstrated net worth of $1 million USD per restaurant committed with 30% available liquidity.
As an example, a 20-restaurant commitment would require $20 million USD in net worth to be presented (with acceptable third-party verifications) and $6 million USD of that in available liquidity. In markets where free-standing restaurants are not as prevalent and in-line locations predominate, these requirements are altered to reflect the lower investment level. In addition, excellent credit and a good business reputation along with presenting a well-thought-out and researched business plan showing the capabilities and connections to succeed is required.
All details can be discussed in an initial call with Mr. Simon or Mr. Mushkin. Please contact us by phone or e-mail if you believe your group fits our profile and if you wish to be a part of this growing segment of the restaurant industry!
AT A GLANCE
Name of franchise: Carl’s Jr. Restaurants
Established: 1941
Number of franchised outlets: 2,800 US and 920 International
Location of units: US based, 45 international Markets
Investment range: $400K to $2 Million USD per Restaurant
Minimum required capital: $150K (inline) to $300K (freestanding) USD per Restaurant
URL: http://carlsjrfranchising.com/international/
Contact: Marc Mushkin, Americas, Asia, Oceania +1-305-588-2724 mmushkin@ckr.com / Benjamin Simon, EMEA +1-404-245-8424 bsimon@ckr.com
